With a seemingly comfortable eight-point lead in the decisive third set, Dakota (37-1) needed just five points to advance to the sectional final. But the Knights rallied to pull off a stunning victory (25-18, 17-25, 26-24) and put an abrupt end to the Indians’ postseason run.

Dakota, which dropped the opening set but bounced back to win the second, used a 7-0 run to take control of the third. The Indians led 20-12 before things began to fall apart, and shockingly so for a team as battle-tested as Dakota.

“We just crumbled,” Dakota coach Shannon Williams said. “Our passing fell apart and we just played not to lose instead of playing to win.”

An 11-3 IC run erased the Indians’ lead and tied the set at 23-23. A Thompson kill then gave the Indians a match point at 24-23, but the Knights countered with three straight points to steal the match. Williams said that tentative play in crunch time proved costly as her team let the big lead get away.

“We just played safe,” Williams said. “Things don’t go your way when you’re just sending a team like that free balls. They’re too good defensively and they’re too good offensively to give them that.”

The Knights came out of the gates on fire in the semifinal, picking up several hard hits by Dakota and answering with a powerful attack of their own that created plenty of problems for the Indians defense. Senior Rory Manion was the biggest force for IC as she pounded a match-high 19 kills, 14 of which came in the first two sets. But despite the Knights’ early success, Dakota was able to withstand the charge, and got back in control by doing what it does best.

“We were swinging away and being more aggressive, because that’s the team we are,” said Thompson, who had 14 kills — eight in the final set. “We swing, we pass, we do everything we can to keep that ball in play and that’s what we did.”

Unfortunately for the Indians, they didn’t keep up the aggressive play when they needed to put the Knights away, and that led to the eventual end of their run, short of what many expected to be a third straight trip to state.

Page 2 of 2 - “It’s tough to swallow but I know for the past four years of my life I wouldn’t want to say I was part of any other team,” Dakota senior Cora Fiene said. “I’m so proud to have played with these girls.”